The field of the invention is signage.
Some years ago, signs comprising lettering and other designs were generally painted by hand on a window, door, or other target surface. More modernly, such signs are generally fabricated from a sheeted material using computer aided design. In a typical modern process such as that described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,467,525, which is incorporated herein by reference, a design is developed and visualized using a computer screen, and the final design is then cut into a vinyl sheet using an automated plotter/cutter type device. Those familiar with the art will recognize that the term xe2x80x9cvinylxe2x80x9d is used generically herein to represent any suitable plastic or plastic-like sheeted material removably bonded to a backingxe2x80x94regardless of whether or not the sheeted material is chemically a vinyl.
The vinyl sheets employed in automated sign making processes typically have a backing, and once an image is cut into the vinyl, the portion of the vinyl not employed in the design (i.e., the non-graphic area) is separated from the graphics area and the backing. Separation of the waste vinyl is called xe2x80x9cweedingxe2x80x9d. Weeding is often performed by hand, utilizing fingernails, tweezers or the like. However, since the vinyl is often very thin, and is bound to the backing using a tacky adhesive, the process of hand weeding can become very tedious. The problem is exacerbated with letters and other designs having included shapes, such as the letters xe2x80x9cOxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cPxe2x80x9d.
Automated weeders have been developed that partially resolve these problems. U.S. Pat. No. 5,277,736 to Logan (January 1994), for example, which is also incorporated herein, describes an automated system that combines an image cutting implement with a tool that selectively bonds an overlay sheet to the non-graphic areas. By removing the overlay, a user selectively removes the non-graphic areas.
It is also known to produce signage having multiple colors, either by adding a colored ink or other material to the surface of the vinyl, or by employing a sheet having multiple layers of different colored vinyls. Such a system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,073,424 to Dressler (December 1991) and U.S. Pat. No. 5236752, also to Dressler (August 1993).
Once weeding is performed for all or part of a design, the design can be installed onto a glass window, door, poster, or other receiving surface. Such installation is usually accomplished by laminating a transfer sheet to the vinyl pattern, lifting the pattern from the backing, possibly adding additional adhesive to the pattern, and then juxtaposing the pattern against the receiving surface. The transfer sheet is then peeled away from the installed pattern.
While there are numerous automated or semi-automated (i.e. hand crank type) weeders, and many different laminators, it is highly unusual to find the two functions implemented together, either in the same physical machine or in cooperating machines. One example where this is done, however, is described in WIPO publication no. 09824619 WO to Meyer, (Australia, published June 1998). In that publication, a weeder/laminator combination carries a sheet of sign material from weeder directly to the laminator, employing in some embodiments a specialized guide system to keep the sign material from puckering and distorting. Such a system is problematic in that complexity is increased unnecessarily, and paper jams and other maintenance issues are unnecessarily difficult to correct. By feeding the sign material directly from the weeder to the laminator, the Meyer system also substantially precludes a user from manually weeding (i.e. hand weeding) non-graphic area following the automated weeding step.
Thus, despite the many advances in the field, there is still a need for a simple, inexpensive, yet effective apparatus and method for performing both weeding and laminating functions.
The present invention is directed to methods and apparatus in which either a single device or cooperating devices perform both weeding and laminating functions. An apparatus for producing signs has a weeder portion for separation of an image element from a non-image element in a sign material to produce a weeded sign material, and a work surface that is mechanically coupled to the weeder portion to receive the weeded sign material. The work surface is sized and dimensioned to allow manual access to the weeded sign material, and the apparatus has a laminator portion mechanically coupled to the work surface to produce a laminated weeded sign material. In a method to produce a sign, a sign material is weeded in a weeder portion of a sign producing apparatus to produce a weeded sign material. The weeded sign material is transferred to a work surface where it can be further processed. The work surface is mechanically coupled to the weeder portion, and processed weeded sign material is laminated in a laminator portion of a sign producing apparatus.
Various objects, features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments of the invention, along with the accompanying drawings in which like numerals represent like components.